Rent Control in Chicago, IL...

[Sam Kwak]

Last month or so, the conversation for Rent Control has been on the table for the State Government. I believe I signed an opposition statement voting against the Rent Control Ban Lift. My brother and I seen a news article on WTTW about this again. 

What do you guys think of this? Anything that you guys know specifically about this?

I personally think that Rent Control will literally kill the city's rental market as well as force investors to look elsewhere thanks to the fact that Chicago is already a challenging place to be a landlord. 

[John Clark]

Rent control will be a disaster for Chicago. Given that there are more renters than landlords, however, it will pass. Jack your rents up now so you can have a cushion when it is imposed.

What I find most disheartening is the fact that rent control will prevent people trying to move into Chicago from finding desireable apartments. Why? Because current tenants won't move out. Rent control is great for people already in place. It is a nightmare for people trying to move in. Good-bye to any dynamism in Chicago's business and social scenes.

Rent control at its heart is an entitlement program; it presupposes that people have a right to live in a particular area. That's absurd. I would love to own a house in Chicago's Gold Coast, but I can't afford it. Prices there are too high. Do we impose price controls on houses so I can buy there? Why should apartments be any different? How does anyone have a "right" to live in particular neighborhood?

One of the slogans I hear bandied about is that "one shouldn't have to chose between rent and food." Trouble is, I don't see how it is the landlord's duty to pay someone's grocery bill, which is exactly what that statement means. I don't see anyone putting price controls on food either. I can only conclude that the people arguing for rent control are simply corporate shills willing to protect multi-billion dollar corporations like the Jewel grocery chain, while hammering much smaller landlords. Call that what it is: predatory behavior.

Gentrification IS disruptive, there's no doubt about it. That is not necessarily bad. The coercive power of the state should only be used in cases of active harm in my opinion, and not being able to live in a particular place is not an active harm.

There is another thread on BP Chicago on rent control already, by the way.